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Hydrophobic coatings that could survive in harsh environment have a wide range of applications from industry to houseware. However, the state‐of‐the‐art polymer‐based coatings cannot meet such requirements due to their low melting point and poor wear resistance. In this study, we reported a plasma sprayed ceramic coating made of ceria with exceptional hydrophobicity, high‐temperature stability, and good wear resistance. The coating exhibited a water contact angle (WCA) up to 139°, due to the intrinsic hydrophobicity of ceria and unique surface morphology produced by plasma spraying. The WCA only slightly decreased to 131° after annealing at 773 K. In addition, the polished coating (WCA ~ 116°) was still more hydrophobic than the sintered bulk specimen (WCA ~ 95°) with the same composition and roughness, which can be attributed to the surface chemistry change induced by Ar+ ion bombing by plasma. It is believed that such robust hydrophobic coating should have great potential in engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the photocatalytic stability of Cu2O in the degradation of tetracycline is a great challenge in combating environmental water pollution because it is prone to deactivation by photocorrosion in aqueous environment. In this study, Cu2O/cellulose microfiber aerogel is synthesized through freeze‐drying, utilizing the self‐curling effect of cellulose and then calcined to produce Cu2O/C composite aerogel. The derived Cu2O/C composite aerogel features hollow carbon microfibers anchored with Cu2O nanocubes. Due to the curling structure and conductivity of the carbon microfibers, the photodegradation efficiency of the obtained Cu2O/C composite aerogel for tetracycline is drastically improved to 97.3% under 120 min of visible‐light irradiation, and remains a cycling photodegradation rate of 84.3% after 10 cycles. The Cu2O/C composite aerogel shows remarkable strategies for designing and constructing Cu2O‐based photocatalyst in the practical photodegradation of tetracycline under visible‐light exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing defect‐rich MoS2/C architectures with three‐dimensional (3D) porous frame effectively improve the electrochemical performance of lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) owing to the improved conductivity and decreased diffusion distance of Li+ ions for lithium storage. Herein, we report a reliable morphology engineering method combining with tunable defects to synthesize defect‐rich MoS2 nanosheets with a few layers entrapped carbon sheath, forming a 3D porous conductive network architecture. The defect‐rich MoS2 nanosheets with expanded interlayers can provide a shortened ion diffusion path, and realize the 3D Li+ diffusion with faster kinetics. A 3D conductive interconnected carbon network is able to improve interparticle conductivity, concurrently maintaining the structural integrity. Benefiting from these intriguing features, the as‐prepared MoS2/C architectures exhibit excellent electrochemical performance: a high reversible capacity of 1163 mAh g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles and a high rate capability of 800 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1. Defect content in MoS2/C architectures can be obtained by changing H2 concentration. Compared with the counterparts with few defects, the defect‐rich MoS2/C architectures show improved electrochemical stability with a superior cycle life, illustrating a highly reversible capacity of 751 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 500 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcystins (MCs) is a harmful toxin generated by blue‐green algae in water, which has seriously threatened the ecological safety of water and human body. It is urgent to develop new catalysts and techniques for the degradation of MCs. A feasible electrostatic self‐assembly method was carried out to synthesize BiVO4/g‐C3N4 heterojunction photocatalyst with highly efficient photocatalytic ability, where BiVO4 nanoplates with exposed {010} facets anchored to the g‐C3N4 ultrathin nanosheets. The morphology and microstructure of the heterojunction photocatalysts were identified by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and BET. The g‐C3N4 nanosheets have huge surface area over 200 m2/g and abundant mesoporous ranging from 2‐20 nm, which provides tremendous contact area for BiVO4 nanoplates. Meanwhile, the introduction of BiVO4 led to red‐shift of the absorption spectrum of photocatalyst, which was characterized by UV‐vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS). Compared with pure BiVO4 and g‐C3N4, the BiVO4/g‐C3N4 heterojunction shows a drastically enhanced photocatalytic activity in degradation of microcystin‐LR (MC‐LR) in water. The MC‐LR could be removed within 15 minutes under the optimal ratio of BiVO4/g‐C3N4. The outstanding performance of the photocatalyst is attributed to synergetic effect of interface Z‐scheme heterojunction and high active facets {010} of BiVO4 nanoplates, which provides an efficient transfer pathway to separate photoinduced carriers meanwhile endows the photocatalysts with strong redox ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]